


Tomorrows

by sunflower1343



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Far Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2155815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflower1343/pseuds/sunflower1343
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A debilitated Asami wants to die. Takaba wants him to live. Three related drabbles that take place forty years into the future, where Asami's and Takaba's and Feilong's lives are once again intersecting.  Written in May 2005.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrows

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second thing I wrote and started out as me trying to write different POVs for the three main characters. It turned out that combined they made a little story of sorts. This was written right after NT5 came out and we had no idea what the resolution to the story would be, so Feilong's situation in this is slightly different than what we know of it today.

**Part 1:**

 

The room was done in pastel blues. The flowers were cheerful daisies. The music was a soothing orchestral rendition of a popular tune.

It really pissed him off.

But nothing pissed him off as much as the steady pounding over his head. What the hell was wrong with the man? He reached for his shoulder holster only to remember with a curse that he’d given it up when he moved here.

Fuck! He couldn’t even get out of bed any more to go teach the bastard a lesson. He grabbed the call button and pressed it furiously.

The pretty nurse who answered listened to him in confusion and patted his head. 

Patted. His. Head.

His bellow of outrage reached even the floor above.

Upstairs the old man sitting in his rocker laughed at the sound, vainly brushed back the long white hair that fell about his face, and went back to pounding on the floor with his cane.

 

 

**Part 2:**

 

Takaba drove his car up the tree-lined lane and parked in his usual spot. A young nurse ran to the door when she saw him and motioned for him to come quickly.

“He’s acting up again,” she said.

Takaba considered her words, and considered the man she spoke of. Acting up. The nurse didn’t know what acting up was until she had a roll of film stuck up her –

“Mr. Takaba! Please hurry. We’re afraid he’ll hurt himself.”

He walked swiftly down the hall, knowing the way, wishing he didn’t. But Asami had decided the care he needed was beyond Takaba’s capabilities.

“What set him off this time?”

“Mr. Liu sir. I don’t know how two men who never see each other can aggravate each other so.”

Feilong. How he had ever found out what nursing home Asami had chosen was beyond him. And he knew someone on the board of directors, which kept Takaba from getting him kicked out. Their nemesis. It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. Didn’t his therapist explain to Feilong that maybe after forty years he should think about getting over it? 

Takaba reached the familiar door and stepped into the room. Asami’s face, red with anger, still stunned him every time he saw it. In all the years they’d lived together, he’d never seen him lose his cool. Not until he was brought down by the massive stroke. Frustration at not being able to make himself understood, at not being able to walk, at having to be tended to like a baby – these were enough to break the façade that nothing else had ever even chipped.

Takaba stepped up into Asami’s line of sight and saw him visibly relax. His garbled angry words explained the situation to Takaba, who understood instantly. After all, they’d stopped needing words between them long ago. Takaba dismissed the staff with assurances that he’d take care of things, then closed the door after them. He reluctantly moved back to the bed, knowing what he’d see in those eyes, what he’d been seeing since this happened and not wanting to look. But he sat down on the bed and met his lover’s eyes anyway.

Was he being selfish? Takaba asked himself that every time. He genuinely felt that life was precious, and this life before him was the most precious of all. But Asami’s eyes begged him and that was something he’d never wanted the proud man reduced to doing.

He lay down next to him, not wanting to face Asami’s silent demand, wrapping his arms about the too thin waist. He felt an arm around his shoulder, offering all Asami wanted to say but couldn’t. His shoulders shook as his tears began to fall. Asami stroked his hair as he mumbled something.

“What do you mean, I always cried a lot? If I remember correctly, most of those tears were a direct result of you being a literal pain in the ass!”

Asami was still capable of smirking.

Takaba sat up and wiped his eyes.

“Ryu, you can’t want this. We can move you someplace else. I can bring you home. We can work something out. Please let me try. Let us try together. Let us be together. I’ll do anything for you but what you’re asking.”

Mumble?

He laughed through tears. “No, I can’t kill Feilong. I did arrange for a gift of shampoo with red dye in it though.” 

This produced genuine laughter. Asami's hand rose to touch his cheek. Another mumble.

“I love you too. Please come home with me.”

Silence.

“Nnnn..... nnno.” Asami breathed hard from the effort that single word took.

Still stubborn. Stubborn about everything but what mattered most. Dammit, it pissed him off.

“Why not? Where’s the man who fought half of Tokyo for possession? Who took on Feilong and the Chinese underworld? Where’s the man who fought to own me and won? You fight everyone else but you can’t fight your own body? I don’t want to hear it Asami! I’ve never seen you give in to anyone like this, but you’re rolling your body over and letting life fuck you in the ass! Goddammit! You’re always so goddamn stubborn – be stubborn for _me_! If you’re so sure you don’t need your fucking life, why not let me have it for a little while? It’s the least you could do after I stuck with you all these years.”

Asami’s eyes were shocked and a little hurt, and he turned his face away from Takaba.

“Oh no you don’t! You never once let me look away from the truth. You always made me stare straight at it. And you always let me know that whatever it was, I shouldn’t be afraid because we’d face it together. Can you do any less than what you always required of me?”

He took Asami’s chin and turned his head back so they faced one another again, his tear-filled eyes challenging Asami’s downcast ones. Asami took a deep breath and raised his eyes. Takaba was stunned to see fear there. He reached out and laid his hand over Asami’s heart.

He said softly, “Since when did we let that stop us?”

He leaned forward and kissed Asami, gently but deeply. Putting everything he had into it. Letting him know that this would never end as long as Asami was still willing to fight for it.

“Come home with me.”

He would wait, did wait, an eternity for the answer.

 

“Yesss.”

 

\---

 

The morning Takaba came to pick up Asami, the sky was a bright blue. The flowers were waving cheerfully. Feilong’s pink hair flew in the breeze. The music, well, it was still that awful elevator music. But all in all, Asami thought, it was a beautiful day.

 

 

**Part 3:**

 

Feilong watched as the car pulled away. He reached for his cellphone and pressed the speed dial.

“Asami is gone. They just drove away.”

He listened, then rolled his eyes.

“I have no desire to stay in this hole a minute longer than I have to. Arrange a car. There’s nothing here I want to take with me.”

He leaned against the window frame, smiling slightly.

“He didn’t look great, but I think he’ll be all right now that he’s letting Takaba look after him. I kept him so angry all he could think about was killing me instead of himself. ”

He looked out at the trees, his eyes seeing further than the woods.

“Pfft. Because they think I’ve held a grudge for forty years. I’m a little insulted that they think I have nothing better to do. But they still have no idea I found out the truth decades ago and I’d prefer to keep it that way, Tao. There’s to be none of your meddling. Having something to hate is healthy for him.”

He stared at the reflection of himself in the window pane, aware of the contradiction.

“I owed them both a great deal, and our family always repays its debts. I want no more discussion about it.”

He blinked, annoyed at his self-indulgent thoughts of the past, and turned them to the future.

“Good. Go ahead and start setting up meetings for next week. I want to get back on schedule as soon as possible. You’ve been doing an excellent job holding things together while I’ve been away. I’m proud of you, son.” 

His eyes softened at the reply.

“Me too. I’ll see you and those grandchildren of mine at the airport.”

He glanced at the mirror and winced.

“Oh, and have my hairdresser waiting for me.”

He hung up the phone and smiled ruefully at his reflection. His grandchildren would never let him hear the end of it.

Then China’s premier crime lord raised his chin, tossed his hair back over his shoulders, and in a cloud of pink walked out of Asami’s and Takaba’s lives, all debts paid.

 

~end~


End file.
